Ant-trap



(No Model.)

M. KELL.

ANT TRAP.

wi/twemo N. PUERS. Photo-Lithogmphab Washington. D. c.

Patented Mar. 20, 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT QEFICE.

MATHEW' KELL, OF GRANBURY, TEXAS.

ANT-TRAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,581, dated March 20, 1888.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATHEW KELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Granbury, in the county ofHood and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Traps, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in ant-traps, the object being to permit the ants to fall into a suitable hollow vessel, from which they cannot escape, and where they can be quickly killed by pouring in kerosene-oil or other destroying material; and it consists in the construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device removed from the earth. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the same embedded in the earth, with the edges of its chamber flush therewith.

Referring to the drawings by letter, A designates an annular vessel, preferably of metal, having the floor a and the inner and outer sides, a a respectively, which converge upward from the base a, and have the annular mouth (0* between their upper edges, which are of equal height, and, when the parts are in p0 sition, are flush with the surface of the earth. An annular chamber, B, is'thus formed having a flat floor and upwardly-converging sides, which, being smooth, cannot be climbed by the ants that have fallen in the chamber.

0 is a vertical tube opening through the outer side at a suitable point. Through this tube the kerosene or other material to kill the ants is poured.

D is a conical cover ol'slightly-larger diameter than the mouth of the chamber and stand ing over the same, so as to protect it from rain' and from heat at noon. The said cover has the incli ned outstanding elastic arms d secured to its under surface near its rim, which arms pass through the loops or staples d on the outerside of the vessel A, and retain the cover the proper distance thereabove. The cover, being conical, sheds the rain and protects the trap from the direct rays of the sun.

The device is set on the ground, as described, in the path of the ants, so that numbers fall therein.

Having described my invention, I claim- The combination, with the annular vessel A, having the flat door and the sides, of equal height and converging upward, and provided on its outer sides with the loops or staples ll, of the conical cover D, of greater diameter than the mouth of said vessel and provided with the outstanding elastic legs d, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MATHEHV KELL.

WVitnesses:

M. H. HANLEY, J. H. HINER. 

